High White Blood Cell Count...?

[littlered82]

I have had a high white blood cell count on and off for a year. At the end of last year, I had my blood taken on two separate occasions. It kept getting higher.

Eventually, I was sent to an oncologist/hematologist back in March. I had my blood drawn at the office that day. When I saw the doctor, he said my wbc was normal.

I had my blood drawn again a week ago. Now it is high again.

In the past year I have had a chest x-ray, a hida scan (to check my liver and gallbladder), and a CT scan to check my abdomen and pelvic region. All of these tests came back normal.

The nurse at the neuro's office told me that MS would not cause my wbc to be high. However, I am kind of questioning to whether that is correct.

I have been told a high wbc can be caused by inflammation. Inflammation has something to do with MS right? So how would a high wbc have asolutely nothing to do with MS? Maybe I am wrong in my thought process?

I also understand that everyone with MS is different. Maybe it wouldn't cause it in one person, but in another it might.

I am just so confused.

[Jules A]

Just off the cuff when I see high WBCs I think #1 infection or in the case of people like us #2 what medication could be causing this.

This isn't really my area but I would think the inflammation connection to increased WBCs is more about the infectious process or trauma but I could be wrong. Interesting thread and I hope you find some answers soon.

Here is an interesting link that adds afternoon counts are often higher as are smoker's.

http://labtestsonline.org/understand...s/wbc/tab/test

[KoKo]

Hi littlered

The nurse at the neuro's office told me that MS would not cause my wbc to be high. However, I am kind of questioning to whether that is correct.

I have been told a high wbc can be caused by inflammation. Inflammation has something to do with MS right? So how would a high wbc have asolutely nothing to do with MS? Maybe I am wrong in my thought process?

To my knowledge (no expert here), the high WBC would show up in the spinal fluid (which circulates the brain and spinal cord), and not in the blood, when a person is diagnosed with MS.

I had elevated WBC's in my spinal fluid - not in my blood.

I'll try to find out more....

Take care,
KoKo

[Redwings]

Hi littlered:
Jules and KoKo have hit the important points. Elevated white count is highly associated with infection, as well as a couple of other things. It's also associated with inflammation. But in MS, the presence of white cells is notable when it occurs in cerebrospinal fluid. MS isn't known for high white cell counts in blood.

It's true that in MS and other autoimmune conditions there can be low-level, chronic inflammation. But that's also true of a portion of the general population -- thought to be a cause of cell damage and aging -- that doesn't have a high white cell count.

An elevated white count is nonspecific, so it has to be interpreted in light of other findings. For example, which cell types are elevated? How high is high?

If the elevated white count is believed to be due to inflammation, then other tests of inflammation need to be done, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP), to put the high white count into context. MS isn't known to routinely raise either one of those. Again, that might be due in part to MS not showing many signs in blood.

As an example of this, I have NMO, which can be hotter, more inflammatory and more damaging than MS. One might think that cell counts would be a good barometer of what's going on with inflammation in such an inflammatory disease. Coincidentally, I had a CBC, ESR and CRP done a couple of days before I had a flare of ON. My white cell counts were on the low side of normal or a tad low (because I'm on immunosuppressants) and my CRP was normal. My ESR was something like 4 (which is excellent, because a normal result for my age would be up to about 35) and I STILL had a flare. So blood counts aren't always an indicator of inflammatory status in demyelinating diseases.

You said that the oncologist/hematologist said your wbc was normal. But what was the actual test result? Normal to a hematologist might be different than to a PCP.

It's certainly possible that an elevated white count could be related to your MS, but it isn't a typical finding in MS and other conditions -- like cancer -- have to be ruled out first.

[littlered82]

Thanks for replies. I am getting more tests done to rule out other things. As we speak, I am being referred to a urologist to see if I have a UTI.

[Jules A]

Thanks for replies. I am getting more tests done to rule out other things. As we speak, I am being referred to a urologist to see if I have a UTI.

I'm shocked and saddened that you don't have an answer after all this time but hope you get one soon. Please keep us posted.